Shabana Mahmood signals watering down of migration reforms as Labour rebels

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has signalled she will water down the government’s migration reforms after a rebellion among Labour MPs, the Times reported.

Speaking to supporters at Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Monday, Mahmood said she would “look again” at plans to at least double the time legal migrants must wait before being granted a permanent right to remain in the UK. “We will come to a position that balances fairness for those who came here legally, and fairness to British citizens across this country,” she said.

Mahmood has proposed increasing the standard qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain from five years to ten, with migrants on care visas waiting up to 15 years. The changes would apply retrospectively to migrants who arrived in Britain after 2021 — a move opposed by more than 100 Labour MPs as well as trade unions.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner attacked the plans at the weekend as unfair because they were retrospective, saying they would “change the goalposts” for migrants already in the UK. “Carers were asked to come to this country to care for some of our most vulnerable and then we changed the goalposts years down the line, I think that’s very disruptive,” she told the Times.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told LBC on Monday he was also “looking again” at the reforms, warning: “The care system may well not function, were they not there.”

No final decision on changes to the immigration rules has been taken.

Sources

• The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/shabana-mahmood-migration-reforms-labour-rayner-5ckkf2zjk
• UK Fact Check: https://www.ukfactcheck.com/article/477/healey-pledges-fiscal-rules-before-the-budget-mahmood-softens-settlement-plans-five-bailed-over-fairford
• Visa Guru: https://visa-guru.com/uk-care-worker-ilr-changes-shabana-mahmood-signals-rethink-of-15-year-settlement-plan/